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Budapest

May 25 - May 27, 2013

Saturday, May 25th
The train to Budapest was just over three hours. We took the metro to our hotel and I wasn't sure what to expect of Budapest at all. From what I saw of the walk to our hotel, it looked scary and urban and dirty, but our hotel turned out to be beautiful and we have an amazing view of the Danube river. We arrived at the hotel at dinner time, so we walked a few blocks to an italian place for some pizza. I started feeling a little bit better walking around a different area of the city.

It was an early dinner and the sun was still up, so we decided to stay out and explore the older parts of the city. The old part of the city is much more appealing than the place we came from on the metro. It is beautiful. We crossed the river on the Chain Bridge and went up the hills on a funicular (a really steep cable car). We got up there just in time to see the huge palace and church at sunset. It was a really nice area to walk around even though we don't know what anything is yet. We came to Budapest without a plan. We roamed around the top of the hill for a bit before we hopped back on the funicular and came down the hill. It was a short walk across the bridge and back to our hotel. I fell asleep to my gorgeous view of all the old buildings out my window.

Sunday, May 26th
This morning, we walked along the Danube for a while. We went to find a memorial piece dedicated to the Jewish people who died in WW2 and to see the parliament building right on the water. We then turned and went the other direction towards the restaurants and main shops. We stopped into a huge market that was on that side of town. There were crazy things and smells coming from this place, but it had some really cool random objects. After the market, we walked around looking for an abandoned building called the Parisi Udvar that was supposed to be really beautiful and it was. It was eerie to see the beautiful building so dimly lit and deserted, but it was so interesting to see. We circled the area a few times and peaked in a few shops, but didn't end up getting anything. We were just in the mood to mosey and take it easy since it's my dads last full day here. After wandering the town looking for restaurants, we decided on one in the middle of the shopping area with an outdoor patio. We had a nice little lunch and headed back to the hotel to relax and catch up on some blog posts. We found an awesome dessert place that looked like a palace and so we had some dessert before dinner because we could. We then had a lovely dinner with Corey and Abi.

Monday, May 27th
It was my dad's last day so we took it easy and just spent time together. We had some tasty little crepes for breakfast and spent some time just sitting and talking in Starbucks. After a while, we walked over to the hostel I would be staying at so my dad could pass me off onto my friends, but they were late and my dad had to say goodbye. It was really hard to see him go, but it meant I was off on more adventures with friends this time.

When my friends finally arrived, we checked into our room, got our swimsuits together, and headed off to the famous Budapest baths. They are thermal springs that are supposedly healing but I thought they were just kinda smelly (because of the sulfur) and strange. I did learn to love the baths after the 5 hours we spent in the magical hot tub water. It was like if someone had filled a palace with only hot tubs. After a day of much needed rest and relaxation, we went back to the hostel to get dressed again. Abi and I then rushed over to the dessert place before they closed and before dinner I might add. After we satisfied our sweet tooths, we met up with Corey to eat at Boom & Brass in the center of town. My friends then took me to this bar called Szimpla that was very hard to describe. They are called ruins bars because they are bars that pop up in abandoned, tattered buildings and they have a really cool vibe to them. It was partially indoors but it also had a huge opening in the roof .I was not expecting a place this cool to be tucked randomly into the streets of Budapest. I felt like I was in some sort of a secret club and photos don't nearly do it justice. I had to snag some photos of it off the internet to provide a better picture of it, but most of the photos I took there.